Life's Not Out to Get You
by babylerms
Summary: A little bit of insight into how Chloe's feeling after episodes 1 and 3 without Max going to the alternative world. Kind of angsty shows her missing Rachel and finding her letter and getting angry with her but there is some happy pricefield in there. Lyrics in the story are in italics and belong to Neck Deep from the songs Serpents and Kali Ma.


**After the Events of Episode 1: Chrysalis**

Hot hot heat and I'm here staring at my ceiling without you, Chloe thought as she lay on her bed and flicked some ash from her cigarette. She was pretty sure there was an ashtray on the floor…somewhere. If only her stepdouche would turn the air conditioner on maybe she could get some sleep or if Rachel was here sweating out the night beside her. Chloe reached over to grab her phone…and knocked a beer bottle off the bookshelf. Luckily the fall wasn't high enough to break the bottle. She picked it up and shook it, still had a little bit left. Chloe took the last swig and grimaced. Who knew how long that had been sitting there? She gently placed it back where it was and picked up her phone. One new message from Max, it was just a smiling emoji, very eloquent. Chloe texted her back "No emojis!" and smirked to herself.

If there was one good thing in her life right now, it was Max. Sure she resented the hell out of the girl for moving away and then never contacting her especially since it was the hardest period in her life so far. But she seemed to have appeared right when Chloe needed her most again and she had to admit Max added a spark back to life in Arcadia Bay. Together they were going to find out what happened to Rachel and then the three of them could run away together. Two girls, Chloe chuckled to herself, did she really think she could handle that?

She looked at the time on her phone. It was late and she was meeting Max tomorrow at the diner. Chloe turned on her side and attempted to get some sleep.

 **After the Events of Episode 3: Chaos Theory**

 _I gave her my heart, she didn't want it_

 _Took it anyway and put a dark spell on it_

 _Since then I haven't been the same_

 _Needed a victim and she got it_

 _Took me in with her song, powerless to stop it_

 _Some men don't dare to speak her name_

Chloe sang at the top of her lungs yet still unable to hear herself over the deafening volume of the radio. She drove around the town; it looked deserted at this late hour. She hit the highway and raced down it at breakneck speeds. The world blurred by her and she wondered if she could just drive forever, no destination in mind, just watching the world pass around her. She felt angry and sad and hurt and betrayed and all these other crappy emotions that she didn't want to feel anymore.

 _She sleeps beneath the surface_

 _Consorting with the serpents_

 _She strikes without a purpose_

There was no one sneakier and more snakelike than Frank Bowers. Chloe glanced over at the accounting book in her passenger seat and immediately the feeling in her chest that she had felt when she first discovered it came back. It was like the pressure in your chest and throat area right before you started to cry big body shaking sobs. Only this pressure wasn't released by tears, this was released by the feeling that her heart was actually breaking in her chest as if it was under so much pressure it cracked from within. Tears would come later when some of this anger abated. Right now she was angry with Frank. What the hell did Rachel see in him? Besides a way to get all the drugs she wanted he was just a creepy loser who spent way too much time with high school kids.

And she was angry with Rachel. Did all the time they spent together mean nothing, all the plans of running away together, just the two of them against the fucked up world? Instead she was fooling around with Frank of all people who Chloe had introduced her to in the first place. How stupid had she been letting Rachel play her like that? She was just another preppy pretty girl using her looks to get what she wanted from whoever she wanted it from like all the other dumb bimbos in the Vortex Club and Chloe had fallen for it.

Chloe had needed someone after her father had passed away and Rachel had been there like an angel waiting to take care of her. They had become best friends and even though nothing ever happened between the two of them and Rachel seemed to be slightly boy crazy Chloe felt something there. She knew someday they would be together. Rachel would get tired of all those lame ass Vortex Club boys and realize what she needed was right there in front of her in the form of her best friend. The plan was to run away together to Los Angeles, get some shitty apartment to start with, and Chloe would make Rachel fall in love with her. Then all the feelings Chloe had had pretty much since she met Rachel would be reciprocated and they would live happily ever after.

 _And it's all fun and games until someone gets fucked up_

 _This will end in tears I could never be enough for you_

 _Count my blessings on one hand and my curses on the other_

 _I let you slip between my fingers_

 _Hide away until the summer_

Chloe eventually ended up back at the junkyard. Even after the events here with Frank the place still filled her with peace. After wandering around for a bit and a few beers, she found herself at Rachel's and her spot. She cleared a spot of trash and plopped down on the floor and let her eyes wander around the place where they had spent so much time. She caught sight of a crumpled up piece of paper and recognized Rachel's handwriting. She was on the fourth read through of the letter when Max walked in.

"Hey Super Max." She greeted the girl raising her beer in salute.

"Hey." Max echoed uncertainly, eyes scanning from the beer to the letter to the tears on Chloe's cheeks. "Everything okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Chloe asked sarcastically. "I recently found out the girl I had some serious feelings for had feelings for someone else. Someone who is and let me quote," She squinted down at the paper, 'wise and unconventional,' and has 'experienced some serious shit.' Like I haven't experienced enough." She finished, crumpling the letter and throwing it across the room.

"I don't think that's what she was implying." Max said gently crouching down in front of Chloe.

"Yeah well how would you know? You never even met her." Chloe retorted bitterly staring off into the distance.

"From what you told me about her I don't think she would try to intentionally hurt you. She was probably just scared and nervous about how you would react. Maybe she knew how you felt about her and she was trying to break the news to you gently that she didn't feel the same but that she found someone else and just wanted you to be happy for her."

"What are you Dr. Phil?"

"I'm just trying to make you feel better."

"Well I don't." Chloe stood up and put some distance between herself and Max. "Tell me why does everybody I get close to in my life end up being such a spineless fucking coward. Rachel couldn't even tell me she was seeing someone else when I constantly put myself and my feelings out there for her. You were right about one thing she absolutely knew how I felt about her and she just kept stringing me along. Why didn't she just tell me she didn't feel the same? Would that have been so fucking difficult? She knew I cared about her enough that we would've still been friends. Yeah I wanted more from her but she was my friend first. She couldn't just tell me and let me move on? Then there was you when my dad died. You moved and never even contacted me to see if I was okay. I mean how goddamn hard is it to send a text?" Chloe ranted and finally looked up at Max and instantly regretted that last part. There were tears streaming down the girl's face to match Chloe's and now she just felt shitty instead of angry. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that about you."

"You're right though. I didn't."

"But it was hard for you too. You were really close with my dad and when you moved I wasn't the only one who lost my best friend. You did too." This was the first time Chloe realized this. She lost Max but Max lost her too along with the city she grew up in and other friends she had.

"You had it worse." Max wiped the tears off her face and stepped closer to Chloe.

"I won't argue with you on that one. But I am sorry. Just don't disappear on me." She looked at Max helplessly.

"I won't." Max promised and reached out to grab Chloe's hands with her own. "I'd miss you too much if I did." Max whispered softly as she leaned in and kissed Chloe.

"What was that for?" Chloe asked in surprise.

"Because I want to even when you don't dare me." Max admitted shyly, ducking her head.

"Does that mean if I had stayed mad we could have had some wild and crazy angry sex?" Chloe hunched down to get eye level with the girl and proceeded to wiggle her eyebrows up and down.

Max giggled at Chloe's antics. "Don't we both have to be angry for that to work?"

"Yeah I guess. How about I try and make you angry now?" Chloe asked hopefully.

"How about no? Besides I don't want our first time to be angry sex. I don't want my first time with anyone to be angry sex."

"Fine. Someday though?" Chloe lilted.

"Someday. Maybe."

"Aww look at us being all romantic."

"You're such a weirdo." Max put her arm around Chloe's waist and the two began walking.

"But I'm your weirdo." Chloe put her arm around Max's shoulders.

"Forever."


End file.
